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EXPOSITION 



OBJECT AND PLANS OF THE AMERICAN UNION 

( <. 

t^ •' FOR THE 



y 



RELIEF AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE COLORED RACE. 



The American Union for the Relief and Improvement of the 
Colored Race, was formed on the I4th day of January, 1835, by a 
Convention of more than one hundred gentlemen, assembled in the 
city of Boston, from ten different states. It was formed in conse- 
quence of extensive correspondence and conference among intellitrent 
friends of the Colored Race, and in the devout hope of contributing 
something to that great design in which all truly Christian enter"- 
prises unite and centre, the design of healing the miseries of a mis- 
erable world, and establishing everywhere, and in every heart, the 
kingdom which is righteousness and peace and joy, and in which 
there is neither Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ, 
the common Saviour and Lord, the great restorer from moral corrup- 
tion, the great deliverer from the oppression of malignant powers, 
and from the darkness and bitterness of human wo, is all, and in 
all. 

The distinct and single object to which the efforts of this Union 
are to be directed, is sufficiently indicated by the title which the 
society assumed at its formation. We have associated ourselves to 
act ' for the relief and improvement of the Colored Race.' Of that 
race, we find at the present time, within the boundaries of our own 
country, not fewer tlian 2,r,00,U00 souls. A greater part of these 
are destitute of intellectual cultivation, of habits of voluntary indus- 



2 

try, and of a knowledge of the arts of civilization. Multitudes may 
also be set down as pagans, no more affected by the genial and sav- 
ing influences of the Christianity that fills the land, than were their 
fathers in the wildernesses of Africa. More than two millions of 
them, the law of the land refuses to recognize as having the rights 
of human beings; and not only so, but holds them, with its strong 
arm, in a condition in which they are continually liable, and liable 
without remedy, to wrongs the most outrageous that tyranny can 
practise upon helplessness. Some three or four hundred thousand 
are recognized by the laws as having rights ; and their condition, 
under the various legis^lation of different states and territories, and 
variously modified by the usages and sentiments of society in differ- 
ent places, is one which allows them at least some hope and means 
of self-improvement. Yet of this privileged fragment, the civil and 
social privations, the intellectual and moral wants, and the physical 
sufferings, are notoriously such as demand the efticient sympathy of 
all who would honor God by seeking to promote the well being of 
his creatures made in his image. 

The constitution of our Union does not confine our views or our 
efforts to the Colored Race in this country. Here, indeed, our ener- 
gies are to be employed first and most continually. Here are to be 
achieved, if at all, our greatest and most desired successes. Yet we 
are not to forget that the colored people in this country are part of a 
depressed and wretched, though most interesting race of men ; and 
that the moral, intellectual and ])olitical elcvution of that race, in 
any one quarter of the world, is liktly to be accelerated by its eleva- 
tion or retarded by its continued depression in whatever other regions 
it inhabits. 

Tilt' Hill attainment of our object will include the abroJ,^^tion of all 
those laws which lay oppressive l)urtlK'ns on the people of color, or 
which exclude them from a |)anicii)atiun in tho^e privileges which 
ought to be the equal inheritance of all the members of society. It 
will include the conversion of this great mass of operatives, whose 
labor is now for the most part compulsory, and therefore far less 
jjrfjfitable than it ought to be, into willing, intelligent, provident and 
self-directing laborers, whose hibor shall be at once ciienper to the 
capitalist, more proiluctive of comforts to theu»selv(!s, and more 
valuable to the connnonwciltli. It will involve the bringing of all 
the Milluences of civilization, of g(jod government and of Christi- 



anity, into free and effectual contact with that great portion of our 
population, which, now, thes^e influences either do not affect at all, 
or at the best, touch only inadequately and at a disadvantage. Our 
object is not merely that they shall be relieved from compulsory 
labor; it is rather that they shall become industrious and efficient 
voluntary laborers. Our object is not merely that they shall be at 
liberty to learn, and shall have the opportunity of learning ; it is 
rather that they shall be actually taught, and shall become intelligent 
men, with all the sensibility and worth, as well as with all the rights 
of manhood. 

In other words, the successful prosecution of our object will 
involve the abolhion of slavery. We shall never accomplish * the 
relief and improvement of the Colored Race,' to the full extent of 
our designs, while the men and women of that race are bought and 
sold in the shambles — never, while the law refuses to recognize and 
protect their domestic relations — never, while the law places them at 
the mercy of masters whose power over tliem is boundless, or if 
limited, limited only on the side of mercy and love. Therefore we 
seek the abolition of this slavery. We seek it, not indeed as the end 
of our association, but as a means to our end, or rather as the 
removal of an obstacle which cannot be surmounted. It is not our 
great end ; for if the legal forms of slavery were to cease throughout 
the United States this day, the demand for such efforts as our Union 
contemplates, would be more imperious and impressive than it is at 
this moment. Nor do we seek it as that without which we cannot 
begin to operate ; much can be done for the relief and improvement 
of the Colored Race in this country and elsewhere, while the mea- 
sures necessary to effect the abolition of slavery are only in progress. 
We seek it, as that which is essential to the full attainment of our 
object. We seek it, as that which must necessarily go along with 
the relief and improvement of the Colored Race, here and in all 
other countries. 

With this view, and because the slavery existing in this country is 
a thing respecting which voices as of a legion are continually crying 
out * Let it alone,' the Convention which formed this Union made 
mention of slavery in the second article of its constitution. By that 
article we are pledored as a society, to use our exertions to convince 
all our countrymen ' that slavery, as it exists in these United States, 
is wrong, and ought to be abandoned.' There are moralists in our 



country, who profess that slavery as it exists in the United States is 
not wrong ; that Christianity allows it, and sanctifies it. There are 
political economists in America, who maintain that slavery is not 
wrong; that it is indispensable to the successful production of 
wealth : that the labor of unintellifrent, slugsish, wasteful drudsres, is 
more profitable to the employer and to the community, than the labor 
of contriving, self-tasked, enterprising, thrifty freemen. There are 
jurists and statesmen in America, who maintain that slavery is not 
wrong — men who, with a boiling love of constitutional liberty, and 
with a patriotic zeal for the supremacy of written and strictly con- 
strued law, and with a chivalrous jealousy of irresponsible power, 
argue that such slavery as oppresses more than two millions of our 
population, is essential to the majesty and dignity of national char- 
acter, nay, essential to the permanence and to the very spirit of 
liberty. Against all these, we maintain, and expect to show, that 
slavery is wrong — wrong morally — wrong economically — wrong po- 
litically — wrong in every one of its aspects and relations. Wc 
expect to show this so clearly, that not only the intelligent, the disin- 
terested, the candid, but even the prejudiced, the perverse, and the 
* slow of heart,' shall be compelled to see it. This we say, not arro- 
gaatly presuming on the ability with which we expect to argue the 
question, but simply relying on the truth, the demonstrable truth of 
our position, that slavery is wrong in every aspect and relation. We 
do not expect to carry our point by the eloquence of our appeals to 
passion, by arguments a priori, or by inference from any metaphysi- 
cal theory of the origin of civil rights and social duties. If the con- 
viction which we aim to produce, cannot be produced by the patient 
induction and the naked exhibition of facts, showing beyond the 
j)0ssibility of denial, what slavery is in law, and in usage, what it is 
in its various influences, and what it is in contrast with that state of 
society in which all are free, — then M-e must fail. 

There is another and more obstinate error in respect to slavery in 
this country, which we are j)lt'(lgo(l to resist. Thousands will admit 
tliat slavery is wrong, who yet — strainjc as the statement seems — do 
not adiiiii tliat slavery as it exists in this country ought to be aban- 
doin.'d. In other wcjrds, admitting that slavery is evil and only evil, 
they do not admit tliat tiie evil can be remedied. Show them that 
the system violates, and seeks to ellace God's image in the nature of 
man; they acknowledge it. Show them that the employment of 



slave labor in the cultivation of the soil, or in any of the operations 
of productive industry, is a wretched and wasteful contrivance, at 
war with all the improvements of progressive civilization ; they 
acknowledge that it is even so. Show them that the subjection of 
one sixth of our people to arbitrary power, the government of brute 
force, is a perilous anomaly in the legislation of a republic whose 
welfare is pre-eminently dependent on the unarmed administration of 
universally venerated law ; they acknowledge the anomaly and the 
peril. But, with all these admissions, they maintain that, as slavery 
here is an established system, it ought not to be meddled with ; that 
the difficulties in the way of its abolition or mitigation are insuper- 
able ; that, dreadful and deadly as the evil is, it is less than the evils 
which would infallibly be involved in any remedial action; and that 
therefore, while we lament its existence, we must submit to it, as to 
a decree of iron destiny. In opposition to such opinions, our consti- 
tution as a society binds us to maintain, that slavery 'ought to be 
universally abandoned.' We are aware of the difficulties which 
inust encompass every legislative movement for the extinction of 
slavery. We have no sympathy with those who speak as if the abo. 
lition of a system on which, in many of our states, the whole fabric 
of society rests, the adjustment of all the warring interests which 
that system involves, the conversion of a brutalized slave population 
into a population of industrious freemen, the protection of the eman^ 
cipated against the masters who have not forgotten to despise and 
oppress, and the protection of the masters against the outbreaking 
passions of freed men who have not learned that true freedom means 
labor and subjection, were as easy a piece of legislation as to change 
a man's name from Richard to John. Yet, on the other hand, we 
have no patience, and desire to have none, with the folly which 
asserts that slavery is to be borne with eternally, as an incurable and 
necessary evil. For such wrongs, there can be and must be a 
remedy. We need not undertake to announce, at the outset, a sys- 
tem or scheme of legislative action for the abolition of slavery ; but 
we may say that whenever the people of the slave-holding states 
shall generally see the criminality, the impoverishing tendencies, 
and the dangers of that system, their political wisdom, guided by the 
experience of other countries and of other ages, will find out a method 
of relief. ' Where there is a will, there is a icai/.' 

n 



While pursuing thus the effort to enlighten public sentiment m 
regard to the many evils of slavery, we hope not to be betrayed into 
a hostility towards slave-holders, which shall eat out the spirit of phi- 
lanthropy in which the effort has its origin ; we hope not to become 
so inflamed with the zeal of propagandism, as to forget that this 
eft'ort is only subordinate to our great end, the relief and improve- 
ment of the Colored Race. Our object is simply to do good, and to 
persuade others to do good, to an unfortunate race of our fellow 
men, — to do them good wherever we can find them, north or south, 
in this country or in other lands, — to do them good now to the extent 
of our present opportunities of benefiting them, in the full expecta- 
tion that the doing of it will ensure other and better opportunities, 
and will infallibly open the way for doing more and more, till the 
work of their relief and improvement shall have been completed. 

To the question, why we have formed ourselves into a distinct and 
permanent association for the prosecution of this object, we give a 
candid and explicit answer ; and we are the more particular to do 
this, because we are unwilling to leave any ground fur misunder- 
standing or jealousy in any quarter. 

1. We do not overlook the efforts which have already been made 
in our country, for this object. Far from us be the folly of imagin- 
ing that we are undertaking a work entirely new ; and the arro- 
gance of representing that, till our particular effort was set on foot, 
the claims of our colored brethen were unheard, and their sufferings 
unnoticed. For the last fifty years, the patriotism, the benevolence, 
the justice of our countrymen has been, to some extent, mindful of 
the wants and wrongs of this portion of our population. In all the 
states from Massachusetts to Delaware, shivery has been, within that 
period, cither totally or virtually aboli.?hed. In nil the states, from 
Maine at least as far as Georgia, Christians of various denominations 
liave exerted themselves either separately or in combination, to sup- 
ply this distinct class with appro])riate means of religious and moral 
instruction. In the middle and northern states, there is a strong 
feeling of opposition to slavery, which they regard as a blot oa the 
character and a Ijlii^Mil on the prosj)erity of our great republic — a 
feeling which, more than once, has broken out with an intense 
excitement, shaking, not the rapilol only, but the nation. Again 
and again have schools been attempted, with various success, for the 
purj)03e of alFording a higher education to individuals whose talents 



atld disposition seemed to give special promise of usefulness amontr 
their brethren. And though of late that feeling has been perhaps 
less efficacious, in consequence of contentions arnontr the friends of 
the colored man, it is not unreasonable to hope that even these con- 
tentions may ere long result in a more vigorous, more rational more 
united, and therefore more powerful public sentiment, than has ever 
yet spoken out in this land for the slave and for the freeman of the 
slave's unhappy lineage. We commence this eflbrt, then, without 
overlooking the efforts which have been already made in the same 
cause, and without disparaging either the success of those efforts, or 
the hopes which that success may reasonably inspire. 

2. Nor is our Union formed with the design of opposition to any 
efforts previously organized. Two Societies, calling themselves 
American, and professedly seeking in diirerent ways the elevation of 
the colored man, are already in the field. To neither of these do 
we place ourselves in opposition. So far as our views of justice and 
benevolence and wisdom will allow, we shall be ready to co-operate 
with either, or with both, for the attainment of objects common to 
them and to us. 

The American Colonization Society, with its Auxiliaries, is plant- 
ing colonies of colored Americans in Africa. In this undertaking, 
if benevolently and wisely managed, we see nothing hostile to the 
relief and elevation of the Colored Race in this country ; but on the 
contrary, much, if we mistake not, which tends to elevate their social 
and moral standing. Against all those unequal laws and usngcs, in 
every part of the nation, which tend to depress the man of color, to 
make even his freedom no better than an empty name, and ulti- 
mately to expel him from the country in which he and his fathers 
have too dearly purchased a right of residence, we are ready to jiro- 
test on every fit occasion. But we see no reason to protest against 
the enterprize of providing for such colored men as may desire it, an 
escape from the oppressions and unpropitious influences which here 
encompass them, or even against tlieir being invited to improve the 
opportunity of securing a new home for themsehes and their chil- 
dren. Nor, on the other hand, do we conceive that, by any benevo- 
lent and reasonable mind, our undertaking can be regarded as hostile 
or rival to that. 

The American Anti-Slavery Society is seeking, as its end, the 
abolition of slavery, and, as a means to that end, the^ improvement 



8 

and social elevation of the free people of color. Our enterprise, 
surely, is not hostile to the object proposed by that society. The 
relief and improvement of the Colored Race cannot be put in oppo* 
sition to the abolition of slavery. They, indeed, of the Anti-Slavery 
Society, regard our end as in order to theirs ; and we regard their 
end as in order to ours. But between their view and ours, there is 
no essential repugnance ; the effectual abolition of slavery, and the 
thorough improvement of the Colored Race, are, at the first glance, 
perceived to be not only inseparable, but mutually dependent. We 
may pursue our end in our way, and they may pursue their end in 
their way, without any necessary collision. On their scheme of 
operations and the agencies which they employ, it is not for us, as a 
society, to pronounce an opinion. We only say here, that we design 
neither to oppose them, nor to rival them ; and that, so far as they 
can succeed either in elevating the free people of color, or in promot- 
ing an intelligent and intense disapprobation of slavery and of all 
who uphold it, we shall rejoice in their success as in our own. 

3. It hns seemed to us a sufficient reason for the movement we are 
attempting, that there is, on the part of American Christians and 
philanthropists, a great amount of kind feeling towards the Colored 
Race, which has not yet been sulTiciently brought into action. 
Thousands among the best men in the land, — whether wiselv or not, 
we attempt not to decide — stand aloof from the operations of both 
the societies to which we have referred, cliielly, not to say solelv, 
because of the contentions in which these operations have unhappily 
become involved. There are churches, there are ministers of the 
gospel, there are benevolent, active and influential individuals, who, 
it is believed, are ready and solicitous to combine their exertions for 
the welfare of the colored people, as soon as they can see how to act 
without taking sides in the unfortunate and disastrous conflict be- 
tween opposite parties. If we can call forth and embody this as yet 
unorganized benevolence towards the people of color — if we can do 
anything towards j^ointing out a field of combined action for this 
object, into which these contentions need not be carried, — the intel- 
ligent and benevolent public will not l)e slow to juslily the formation 
of our Union. 

'1. At the same time, it is to be observed, that there is much to be 
done in behalf of the Colored Itacr, which is not done, or likelv to 
be done, under existing organizations. The ellbrts of the Coloniza- 



9 

tion Society are limited to a single object. It can move only in one 
line. And without disparaging that object, we may say that more 
than that — far more, must be done, before tlie claims of the Colored 
Race on our benevolence, or our justice, begin to be answered. 
The efforts of the Anti-Slavery Society admit of a wider ranfre. 
But — to confine ourselves to a single specification of what lies beyond 
their sphere — the nature of their undertaking makes it impracticable 
for them to do anything, directly or indirectly, to promote the efforts 
which are made, or which ought to be made, for the welfare and im- 
provement of slaves continuing in bondage. To us, and, if we have 
not altogether misjudged, to a great portion of the reflecting public, 
one of the most cheering signs of the times in relation to the groat 
object of our eflforts, is found in the fact that Christian sensibility in 
the slave-holding states is awaking to the claims of the enslaved for 
religious instruction — in the fact that churches and ecclesiastical 
judicatories are taking up, as a duty of the most urgent importance, 
the work of securing for the slaves within the reach of their influ- 
ence, a knowledge of the sublime truths, the precious consolations, 
and the inspiring and ennobling motives of tlie word of God — in the 
fact that ministers of the gospel, young men endowed with superior 
talents and various attainments, and invested with the confidence 
alike of the slave and of the master, give themselves to this work, 
with the self-denying zeal of apostles — and in the fact that these 
efforts are received with unexpected favor by men who make no pre- 
tensions to Christian benevolence, on the ground that the interest of 
the proprietor is promoted by the Christian instruction and discipline 
of the slave. We see in these facts, not a conspiracy to divert public 
attention from the great question of abolition, and thus to perpetuate 
the bondage of the slave ; nor a design to pervert the peaceful and 
benignant influences of the gospel, and to make Christianity serve 
as the guardian angel of slavery; nor any tendency to prevent either 
individual or general emancipation; but rather an indication that the 
elastic spirit of Christian enterprise, which seeks the conversion of 
every creature, is beginning to develope itself, even amid the many 
opposing influences inseparable from the social constitution of those 
states ; and a proof that, in the districts where these eflbrts are 
begun, the slave is beginning to be regarded not merely as a ciiattel, 
but as a man, and that slavery there is about to arrive at that ])oint, 
at which the improvement of the slave's condition is a matter of 



10 

necessary economy on the part of his master ; and a ground of hope 
that one improvement will lead to another, and one manifestation of 
kindness towards the enslaved will beget another, and that thus mas- 
ters and slaves will be preparing for that consummation so devoutly 
to be wished, the peaceful abolition of their existing relation, and 
the substitution of other relations, less at war with the theory of 
republican institutions, less offensive to the common conscience of 
mankind, and less malignant in their influence on the character and 
interests of tlie parties. Now is it not practicable for the benevolent 
and Christian public in the United States, generally, to co-operate in 
some way with those individuals and associations, who, in the midst 
of Slavery, are thus seeking the welfare of the slaves? Is it not 
practicable, by argument and by Christian kindness, to subdue oppo- 
sition and passion, and to spread a system of religious instruction 
throughout the slave-holding portion of the country? Ought not the 
whole country to be made acquainted with all that is done, as well as 
with all that is not done, for the instruction and salvation of our 
enslaved population? And, not to refer at present to any other 
topic, do we not find occasion here, and scope, for the action of a 
new association ? 

But tlie (piestion will be raised in every quarter, what tncasiires 
does this Union propose for the promotion of its great object ? How 
is it to operate for the Relief and Improvement of the Colored Race ? 
We arc aware that in the answer to this question are involved, 
essentially, all the merits of our enterprise ; and that it were unrea- 
sonable to ask any to co-operate with us, till we have clearly an- 
nounced what we propose to do. And therefore we desire to exhibit, 
without reserve, what, with a humble reliance on the guidance and 
favor of Iliin to whom every good work belongs, we shall endeavor 
to perform. 

Respecting the propriety, or expediency, or even the duty, of po- 
litical action for the relief of the oppressed people of color, we have 
here nothing to say. IJe it that such action is deemed necessary by 
others, we shall not attempt to interfere with, or to supersede, the 
efforts which they may choose to make in this way. The work of 
excitemetjt, of po|)ular agitation, of political combination and influ- 
ence, we leave to others ; not as condemning the exercise of one 
of the hinhest and most sacred privileges of citizenship, but simply 



11 

because we think that we, as a society, can prosecute our object 
most effectually by keeping away from the arena of such conflicts. 

On the contrary, our attention will be directed to the following 
humbler departments of effort. In the progress of our work, other 
ways of advancing upon our object may be offered to our view ; but 
at present, our scheme of operations includes especially these par- 
ticulars : 

I. We invite the attention of all the friends of this cause, to the 
duty of combined and systematic local efforts for the improvement 
of the people of color in all our cities and larger towns. In the 
cities of even the most northern states, there are large and compact 
masses of this sort of population. The propriety of efforts for the 
improvement of their condition and character, none but the hard- 
hearted and unbelieving can question. Everywhere, these people 
suffer under many embarrassments and impositions. To a lament- 
able extent, they suffer from their own ignorance, and from habits 
of unthriftiness. They suffer, often, from the want of regular and 
regularly productive employment. In many places, they suffer 
because to other demoralizing influences is added the absence of 
suitable religious instruction. Multitudes of their children have not 
adequate opportunities of acquiring those elements of knowledge, 
which are essential to their usefulness and happiness in this, or in 
any other country. 

The efforts which have been made heretofore, and which are still 
prosecuted in many places, are, on the whole, undoubtedly a fit 
model for similar efforts elsewhere. An association which shall be 
the recognized and active patron of the people of color, which shall 
help them by seconding and guiding their efforts to help themselves, 
which shall supply pecuniary assistance so far as it shall be needed 
for the sick and helpless among them, which shall carefully seek to 
stimulate their charity towards each other in circumstances of dis- 
tress, and which, in brief, shall do for them whatever is demanded 
by an enlightened and considerate benevolence, — ought to exist in 
every place in which the people of color are sufficiently numerous to 
constitute a class. Among the particular modes of doing good be- 
longing to the province of such associations, the fullowing deserve to 
be here enumerated : 

I. Religious instruction, by affectionate, discreet and faithful 
teachers, should be provided for the colored people, in such forms aa 



12 

may be best suited to their wants. Wherever they are sufficiently 
numerous to form a religious congregation by themselves, they ordi- 
narily prefer to do so ; and, if we mistake not, the obvious advan- 
tages of such an arrangement, when practicable, are more than the 
disadvantages. 

2. Schools should be provided, in which every colored child shall 
be enabled to acquire as good an education, as is due by birthright 
to the other inhabitants of this country. In those states in which 
common schools are established by law and at the public expense, 
the colored child has the same right to education with the children 
of white parents. But even in those states, there is always danger 
that without the patronage of vigilant friends, the colored people will 
be defrauded of their rights as established by law. Under the pre- 
tence of putting them into separate schools, tliey are sometimes 
excluded from the well taught and munificently supported public 
schools, and are placed under the care of less competent teachers, 
who are employed only for a small portion of the year. Where there 
are no public schools, the necessity of associated benevolent action 
is obviously still more imperious. 

3. The colored people everywhere need aid in bringing up their 
children to respectable and regular employments. The greatest 
temporal benefit which can be conferred on a colored boy in this 
country, is, to give him a good trade. How few are the colored 
mechanics who do not find constant occupation, or who do not 
provide respectably for themselves and their families. And yet how 
few colored boys have the opportunity of learning any mechanic art. 

4. To improve either the condition or the character of the colored 
people, they must be taujiht the habit of saving and accumulation. 
Property is worth as much to a colored man, as it is to a white man ; 
and property in the hands of an intelligent and honest colored man, 
is worth as much to the commonwealth as if he were white. Teach 
a colored man to lay by something from his daily earnings by extra 
effort and self-denial, and he is already more of a man, both in his 
own eyes and in the eyes of the community. In no one way, then, 
can the friends of these people do them good more directly and 
efliciently, than by rnahling them to make a safe, and if possible, 
lucrative deposit of their savings. AN'here there is a Savings' Hank, 
they should be kindly incited to avail themselves of its advantages. 
Where there is none, some substitute should be provided. 



13 

In proposing these efforts, we do not demand that associations 
instituted in accordance with our suggestions shall be in name or 
form auxiliary to this Union, or shall be considered at all as adopting 
any principles ascribed to us, or abjuring any principles ascribed to 
others, in relation to other topics. We only ask that such efforts 
may be organized, that the good may be done, and that in the doing 
of it, there may be a union of beneficent hands and philanthropic 
minds, without reference to questions that pertain to other branches 
of the great enterprise for the deliverance of our country from its 
crimes and perils, and for the redemption of the African race. 
Surely, there need be no dissension respecting the usefulness of sucIj 
efforts. Surely, all who desire the welfare of the colored people, can 
unite in the principle, that one way to obtain for that class of our 
population a more advantageous station in society, and a progressive 
diminution of their burdens, is, by leading them to improve to the 
utmost the privileges which are actually within their reach. 

II. We propose to use our exertions, as we have opportunity, in 
bringing forward promising young men of color, and aiding their 
education in the higher branches of knowledge. The bearing of 
this on the Relief and Improvement of the Colored Race, is too 
obvious to require elucidation. Happily for our object, there are 
institutions in this country, at which the colored pupil can pursue, 
under able instructors, all the branches of a liberal and finished 
education. Yet the number of individuals actually improving these 
advantages, is far less than might be expected. Educated men of color 
are needed not only to co-operate in promoting the intellectual and 
moral elevation of their kindred in this country, but to sustain a most 
important agency in the yet greater and more comprehensive work 
of elevating the Colored Race throughout the world. The myriads 
in the British Colonies, now either emancipated, or passing through 
the process of emancipation, might receive a large portion of their 
teachers more easily from this country than from any other. In 
Hayti, colored men from the United States, well furnished with 
science, political, mechanical, or physical, or otherwise well pre- 
pared to aid in forming and developing the mind of an infant naiion, 
would find a ready welcome, and an ample and honorable field of 
usefulness. Africa, too, must be explored, its resources searched 
out, its scientific treasures brought to light, by scientific travellers 
of African blood and constitution. The native tribes of that conti- 
nent must be made acquainted with the gospel, and with the sciences 
2 



14 

and arts of Christendom, by teachers of their own race and com- 
plexion. The colonies there must, for a season, receive their leading 
and enlightened mind?, their politicians and jurists, their teachers, 
their physicians, their Christian ministers, chiefly, if not exclusively, 
from among the colored people of this country. Yet, for all these 
great purposes, how few colored youth are at this moment in a course 
of training ! We shall seek earnestly for some way in which we may 
co-operate in supplying this deficiency. It cannot be doubted that 
diligent inquiry may find, scattered through the land, the young men 
of color, fit to be educated, whose education shall act with incalcu- 
lable power on the destinies of their race. 

III. We believe that a full exhibition of all the facts respecting 
the condition of the Colored Race, and a fiiU illustration of all the 
influences which conspire to depress them in this country and else- 
where, will be more powerfid than perhaps anything else, in forming 
that enlightened and decided state of the jjublic mind, which must 
be everywhere formed in order to their complete relief and elevation. 
We propose, therefore, to spare no pains, and no reasonable expense, 
in the work of investigating, and collating, and jiublishing to the 
world in the form of clear statements and undeniable deductions, all 
the facts that can be ascertained in relation to such heads of inquiry 
as the following : 

1. TUE FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR IN TUIS COUNTUY. 

(a.) Their number, and the number of families, in each state and 
district. 

(i.) Their legal privileges and disabilities, under the legislation 
of the several states and of Congress. 

(r.) Their employments; — from what employments they are ex- 
cluded by law or by public prejudice. 

{(I.) 'J'lieir opportunities for accpiiriiig knowledge ; — the lumiber 
and cliaiacter oi' the schools ojien to tlieui : tlie niuiiber of pupils ; 
the niMMlier of children who have no means of instruction. 

(r.) The amount of property owned by these people in the several 
states; — how iinich, in |)roiiortion to tiieir nundxTs, as conijiared 
with other class(;s of peojile. 

(/.) Their increase, and its causes ; — how miikIi of it in each 
state is natural, and how much i.' bv ( inau('i|)alioM or iinnii'.'ration. 

2. Si.Avi.itY .\M» Tui: Slave Ticnol. 

{(/.) The legislation and jurisj)rii(i(;nce of each >\:i\r aii<I territory 
in respect to ^laverv ; ami the |)rae.lical operaii<pM of the laws as 



15 

affecting the power of the master, and the protection of the slave, 
and the character and happiness of both. 

(6.) The economy of slavery, or its influence in the production, 
distribution and consumption of wealth. 

(f.) The commerce in shives, as carried on witliin the United 
States ; how many are transported from one part of the country to 
another ; which are the exporting states, and to what amount; which 
the purchasing states and territories, and to what amount, and for 
what uses; who are the carriers; what restraints upon this com- 
merce in the laws ; what tlie bearings of it, on the wealth, safety 
and character of the parties. 

{(I.) The means of instruction and improvement enjoyed by the > 
slaves, as compared with those enjoyed by the laboring class in other 
countries, and especially under the despotic governments ; their 
actual improvement; how far they have ceased to be barbarians and 
pagans. 

3. The Abolition of Slavery. 

(a.) The causes, political, commercial and moral, which, in vari- 
ous instances, have brought about or necessitated the extinction of 
slavery. 

(b.) The processes or forms of abolition, at different periods, and 
under different governments, and their comparative adaptedness to 
the legitimate end of abolition. 

(c.) The effect of abolition on property ; what bearing it has had 
on the value of real estate and of other kinds of wealth in different 
states of society ; and how this illustrates the reasonableness and 
extent of the master's alleged right to compensation. 

[d.) The results of abolition, as affecting the condition of the 
emancipated population and the general welfare of society ; the actual 
condition of the Colored Race where they have been emancipated, 
and the influences that modify that condition. 

The results of such investigations, we conceive, will not only 
afford the most convincing demonstration that slavery is wrong and 
ought to be abandoned, but will throw a strong light on all the diffi- 
cult and perplexing questions connected with the sul)joct. And the 
publication of the facts and principles thus ascertained beyond the 
possibility of denial, may be made effectual in bringing the public 
mind, not only of the free states, but of the whole country, to that 
position in which there shall be but one opinion of the morality of 
slavery, and of its relations to public and private interest, and of the 



16 

duty both of legislatures and of individual citizens. Our fellow- 
citizens of the southern states are not insensible to the estimation in 
which they may be held by the enliirhtened and deliberate public 
sentiment of the country and of the world. Nor are they, as a com- 
munity, incapable of being instructed, or of being moved by truth, 
even in relation to slavery. They sustain slavery, and insist on its 
perpetuity, chieHy because they deceive themselves. They deceive 
themselves by refusing to look the system in the face, and to ponder 
its theory as delineated in their own statute books, and its practice as 
developed within the range of their daily observation. They deceive 
themselves with the idea that, on the whole, the degraded and wretch- 
ed colored man is as well off, as his nature and the interests of 
society will allow. They deceive themselves with the terrific fancy, 
that the first movement of change will be convulsion, and the first 
whisper of discussion will be like the heedless shout among the 
mountains, which loosens the poised avalanche, to rush upon the vale 
below with instantaneous ruin. By such delusions and terrors, do 
they justify themselves, in maintaining slavery. But cannot their 
delusions, unconquerable as they may be by reasonings a priori, be 
dispelled by the presentation of facts ? Can they resi.st the appeal 
to their own judgment and to the common judgment of mankind, 
which would be made by a simple, intelligible, unimpassioned, and 
indisputable statement of what slavery is, as it exists under their 
lef illation I Can they resist, when all the effects of that system on 
their prosperity as states and as individuals, shall have been made 
manifest, not by angry disputation, but as by the steady and cautious 
researches of science ? Can they resist, when vigorous conclusions 
from the widest induction and the most careful analysis of facts, 
shall have shown what the abolition of slavery is, and by what pro- 
cesses it may be most safely and happily accomplished ? 

Nor will these investigations throw light on slavery alone. We 
regard them as important to every department of our great enter- 
prise. Tiic question how to accomplish most entirely, not only the 
relief of the Colored Race in this country from the power of 
unrighteous laws, but their elevation here, and in every other coun- 
try, in which they are a distinct and depressed class ; and the ques- 
tion how to pour light most elVcctually and rapidly over the dark 
realms of Africa, arc qucrstioiis which, in the «'xistiug state of our 
knowledge, can be answered only in part. Some things we can see, 
which ought to be done, and which there is an obvious way of 



^ 



17 

doing ; and in our view, the wisest method is, to be^in with doing 
these things, and at the same time to inquire diligently in every 
quarter, what else can be done to most advantage, and to search out 
every fact that can throw light on the path of our philanthropy. 
This is our method of proceeding. We ask the co-operation of all 
to whom our views commend themselves as just, and the patience of 
those who think their own views too enlightened for further illumina- 
tion, and too thorough to admit of any joint action with a system so 
deliberate. 

In particular do we ask, for this method of proceeding, the co-op- 
eration of the professed followers of Christ in the slave-holding states. 
We would not charge them with a total neglect of their duties to the 
Colored Race. We appreciate the difficulties of their position. We 
rejoice to know that the claims of the slaves on Christian sympathy 
and Christian beneficence, are receiving more and more of their 
attention. But we cannot refrain from asking them, in the name of 
their Master and ours, whether they are now doing, whether they 
have as yet dared to think of doing, all that they ought to do for 
the degraded and perishing population which swarms around them. 
Is it enough, merely to arrange, for these enslaved millions, a system 
of oral instruction in religion, and to leave them from generation to 
generation, without the power of reading the Scriptures, and subject 
to all the corrupting and brutalizing influences of slavery ? Not 
that such a system is to be condemned as no better than total neglect, 
or as a compromise with oppression ; — but is it enough? Ought it 
to satisfy the philanthropy of those, whose spirit is the spirit of 
Christ? We make no appeal here to politicians, to statesmen, to 
men of merely worldly views, to men who can conceive of no higher 
and holier impulse than the love of country. IJut we do appeal to 
those who are conscious of piuer and nobler affections, whose citi- 
zenship is in heaven, who have identified themselves with the service 
of Him whose gospel, preached to the poor, is ' deliverance to the 
captives, and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound.' 
We appeal to them, as to men who believe that the colored man and 
the slave is their ' brother, for whom Christ died.' We appeal lo 
them, as to men who believe that the time is at hand when, under 
the universal dominion of the blessed and only Potentate, every fetter 
shall be broken, and all mankind shall be one family, rejoicing in the 
' liberty of the sons of God.' We appeal to them, as to men who 
confess their obligations to do all in their power, at every hazard, 
*2 



18 

and at the expense of every self-denial, to bring about the fulfilment 
of that inspiring hope. And we ask them, as in the name of all the 
hopes of bleeding humanity, — as in the name of all the kindreds of 
God's redeemed, — as in the name of tlie Lord wlio bought them, — 
Are you doing all that you ought to do, for the alleviation, for the 
removal of the systematized oppression that grinds in the dust the 
millions of your colored brethren 1 Will you refuse to give us your 
powerful aid in our attempt to search out and to exhibit all the truth 
concerning that system, and concerning the possibility and mode of 
applying a remedy ? A Sunday school for the slave is well — a cate- 
chism for the slave, to be learned even by the laborious process of 
oral teaching, is well — a chapel and a preacher for the slave is well ; 
but is this all that is demanded by the law of love 1 Who will 
delude himself with the notion tliat this is righting all the wrongs of 
the colored man? Whose conscience does not tell him, as if antici- 
pating the decision of the final Judge, ' These things ought ye to 
have done, and not to have left the other undone ? ' 

Shall we be told by Christian men, that all this is no concern of 
ours? Away with such folly! All this /.•< our concern. All the 
darkness, all the misery, all tlie wickedne.-s that fills the earth is our 
concern. Not as Americans mere ly, but as men, and especially as 
men serving that God who ' hath made of one blood all nations,' and 
hoping in that Saviour who gave himsilf a ransom for all, we are 
bound to care and to labor for tlie relief of these degraded millions ; 
and not for their relief only, hut for their complete elevation, and 
tiirir investiture with all the dignities of manhood. 

U|)On tliiit l.ihor we nit(>r, trusting in God that no clamor from 
earth or hcl! sli:;!! drive us from our purpose. We go forward, look- 
ing to the Author of all good for wi.^dom and strength, for patience 
and success. 'J'hc work is his, and his shall be the victory. 

D.ANIKL NOYi:s. 
IV n. EDWARDS. 
E. A. ANDREWS. 
CIIARLKS S(n'DDKR. 
IIKNKV KDWAKDS. 
JOSEPH IRACV. 
SAMUEL M. WORCESTER. 
Jiosloii, Munh IG. 1S35. 



PROCEEDINGS 



FORMATION OF THE SOCIETY. 



Wednesdat, January 14, 1835. 

The Convention was called to order by Daniel Notes, Esq., of 
Boston. Hon. William Reed, of Marblehead, was appointed Chair- 
man, and Rev. J. W. Chickering, of Bolton, Secretary. Prayer was 
offered by Rev. I. W. Putnam, of Portsmouth, N. H. The Convention 
was then fidly organized by the choice of 



Hon. William Reed, President. 
Rev. Baron Stow, Vice President. 
Rev. J. W. Chici 
Charles Tappa: 



rCKERING, } c. . . 

, V . } Secretaries. 
IN, Esq., S 



The following Constitution was subsequently adopted by the Con- 
vention : 

CONSTITUTION. 

Art. I. This Society shall be called ' The American Union for the 
Relief and Improvement of the Colored Race.' 

Art. II. Tiie object of this Society shall l»e to |)roinote, in all suitable 
ways, the intellectual and moral elevation of the Colored Race ; and by 
disseminating information, and exerting a kind moral influence, to con- 
vince all Atnerican citizens, that the system of Slavery in this country is 
wrong, and ought to be universally abandoned. 

Art. III. The Society shall be con)posed of all persons present at its 
formation who shall express their approbation of its object by signing 
the Constitution ; and of such others as shall from time to time be 
elected. 



20 

Art. IV. The officers of this Society shall be a President, Vice Presi- 
dents, Secret.iries, Treasurer, and two Auditors, who shall be annually 
chosen by ballot, and shall jjsrform the duties ordinarily assigned to such 
officers, and continue in office until others are chosen. 

Art. V. There shall also be an Executive Committee of seven mem- 
bers, who shall be chosen annually by ballot, and who siiall, as may be 
practicable and most useful, obtain pecuniary means, employ agents, form 
Associations, and take all suitable measures to accomplish the above men- 
tioned objects, and shall annually report their doings to the Society. 

Art. VI. This Constitution may be altered on recommendation of the 
Executive Committee, or at the written request of any ten members of 
the Society, by a vote of two thirds of the members present at any annual 
meeting. 

It vpas then 

Resolved, That this Society is organized with no designs of hostility in 
respect to any other institution ; hut on the contrary, with the cordial 
desire that relations of IriiMidlinoss and co-operation may exist among all 
the friends of liie colored people. 



Wednesday Evening, Jan. 14, 1835. 

The American Union for the Relief and Improvement of the Colored 
Race met according to appointment. 

By request, the officers of the Convention presided till otiiers wore 
appointed. 

On motion of Rev. 31. I^adger, 

Voted, That the Executive Committee be iiistrnctcd to prepare and 
publish an Exposition of the jirinciples and measiuos of this Society ; 
and that it be rtM-onniicnded to tiie friends of the colored people 
throughout the country, to take iiiuiiciliate measures to form associations 
auxiliary to this Society. 

Adjourned to meet to-morrow, at 10 o'clock, A. M. 



21 



Thursday, January 15, 1835. 
The Society met, agreeably to adjournment. 

On motion of Rev. Leonard Bacon, 

Resolved, That the Executive Committee be instructed to investigate 
as minutely as possible, 

1. The physical, intellectual, and moral condition of the People of 
Color in the non-slave-holding states: 

2. The social and civil privileges, and the means of intellectual and 
religious instruction, enjoyed by the People of Color in the slave-holding 
states : 

3. The means of instruction and improvement enjoyed by the slave 
population. 

On motion of E. A. Andrews, Esq., 

Resolved, That the civilization of the inhabitants of Africa, and the 
improvement of their condition, be referred to the Executive Committee, 
as an important department of the field of benevolent effort, included in 
the design of this Union. 

On motion of Rev. President Wheeler, 

Resolved, That the Executive Committee be requested to inform them- 
selves of the relations which the slaves sustain to the laws, in the several 
states and territories in which they dwell ; to learn to what extent, and 
in what particulars, they are under the protection of law; and, as far as 
may be, the influence of their various legal conditions on the moral and 
intellectual character of the slaves. 

On motion of William Blanch ard. 

Resolved, That the Executive Committee be requested to inquire into 
the condition of the Colored Race, in those places where Slavery has 
ceased to exist. 

On motion of Rev. N. Adams, 

Resolved, That the Executive Committee be requested to insert in their 
exposition of the principles of this Society, a statement of the feelings of 
interest and sympathy felt by us in regard to slave-holders, who are 
anxious to be freed from the burden of Slavery. 

On motion of Solomon Stoddard, Jr. Esq., 

Resolved, That the Executive Committee be authorized to call meet- 
tings of this Society, whenever they may think it expedient. 



22 



FORM OF A CONSTITUTION FOR AUXILIARY SOCIETIES. 

Article I. This Society sliall be called Auxiliary of the Ameri- 
can Union for the Relief and Improvement of the Colored Race. 

Art. II. The object shall be, to aid the American Union in its efforts to 
])romote, in all suitable ways, the intellectual and moral elevation of the 
Colored Race; and by dissemiiiatiufj information, and exerting a kind 
moral influence, to convince all American citizens, that the system of 
Slavery in this country is wrong, and ought to be universally abandoned. 

Art. III. Any individual may become a member, by signing the Con- 
stitution, and by paying . 

Art. IV. All moneys obtained by subscription or otherwise, shall be 
appropriated under the direction of the ofiicers of the Society, for the 
general purposes mentioned in Article second. 

Art. V. The officers of the Society shall be a President, Vice Presi- 
dent, Secretary and Treasurer, who shall perform the duties incident to 
such offices respectively, and shall constitute a Board of Managers to 
transact the business of the Societ\\ 

Art. VI. The Annual Meeting of the Society shall be held ; at 

which time the officers shall be elected, who shall continue in office until 
a new election. 

Art. VH. The officers of the Society may call a meeting at such 
other times, as they may think proper. 

Art. VIII. This Constitution may be altered at any Annual fleeting, 
by a vote of two thirds of the members present. 



23 



OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 



President. 
Hon. WILLIAM REED. 

Vice Presidents. 

Hon. STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, 

Rt. Rev. ALEXANDER V. GRISVVOLD, D. D. 

Hon. ROGER M. SHERMAN, 

Rev. NATHAN LORD, D. D. 

Hon. THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN, 

Rev. JOHN WHEELER, D. D. 

Rev. FRANCIS WAYLAND, D. D. 

Rev. ELIJAH HEDDLNG, D. D. 

Hon. SIDNEY WILLARD, 

WILLIAM LADD, Esq.. 

GERRIT SMITH, Esq. 

BENJAMIN SILLIMAN, LL. D. 

Rev. JACOB ABBOTT, Recording Secretary. 

, Corresponding Secretary. 

JAMES HAUGHTON, Treasurer. 

Executive Committee. 

DANIEL NOYES, 
B. B. EDWARDS, 
E. A. ANDREWS, 
CHARLES SCUDDER, 
HENRY EDWARDS, 
JOSEPH TRACY, 
SAMUEL M. WORCESTER. 



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